Ich Wunsche
by contour
Summary: Jackie returns to World War One when he is killed by the bomb meant for Eddie Shrote. Though he did get the evil bastard, Jackie was really hoping not to have to go back to Hell. The Darkness hiatus


_Ich Wunsche_

Jackie returns to World War One when he is killed by the bomb meant for Eddie Shrote. Though he did get the evil bastard, Jackie was really hoping not to have to go back to Hell.

This story begins right after the torture, and eventual bombing in the church. Where in the game, Jackie was sent to the large movable canon; he is, in this story, thrown back into the field, and the enemy's line of fire.

* * *

Jackie opened his eyes to see the red sky and large planes screeching by. Bright flashes of light rose into the air accompanied by loud explosions.

The land was barren, as it had been before. The grass, brown, and even white in places from the explosions. There weren't any trees where he was, but where the few were, they were completely dead and gnarled.

Though Jackie disliked dying, he hated the Darkness more for sending him here. Everything was already dead. But here, everything was in constant motion. There were men without lower bodies that were still fighting. Men were falling apart at the seams, but the fighting didn't stop.

A deep groan was heard behind Jackie and he could feel a small prick of a gun barrel against his lower back.

Without word or emotion, he reached around his head and over his shoulder with his most recently acquired gun. He shot and the moaning stopped.

A German soldier, he had no doubt. Knowing this guy would get back up and start shooting his ass, Jackie debated on whether or not to just walk away. He needed to find the American's base camp anyway, and the least time spent on the field, the better, in his opinion. Of course, he'd rather not get shot by an ignorant German soldier.

Jackie turned around to find the soldier making his way to his feet. Jackie put the barrel of his gun to the soldier's head and fired. The German's head flew back, the dark bullet of energy piercing through his helmet and flying through the air, dying out in an upcoming German soldier. That gave Jackie just enough time to start on his way toward the American encampment.

* * *

"Goddamn! You look like shit!"

"No shit, Sherlock! I got my leg blown off! Fuck!"

Some American soldiers stayed behind at the encampment. Those that could still fight stayed poised at the entrances and exits. If the soldiers were too badly mutilated, they had to stay in the infirmary.

The encampment consisted of a small, run-down old church. Of course, there were other buildings, a couple stone houses, and old rotten barn, or what was left of it, small trenches where a river used to flow, but the church stood out the most. The high steeple stood out readily above the other smaller buildings. It was once painted white, the stone church, but the paint was worn and chipped, and was a dull gray and even brown in places where the mud had stained. There were very few windows left in tact, but from the handfuls that were unbroken, one could only assume the church was very wealthy because the stained-glass looked like a masterpiece. Of course, putting beautiful windows in a shit-hold of a building is like putting a chandelier in a haunted house.

Things were slow in the encampment, as always. However, it was better to be slow than to be getting shot to death…again. And because only the wounded actually came back from the field, nothing and no one exciting ever really came by.

Those soldiers that were out and about, to keep their spirits up, made fun of eachother and vice versa. They sometimes played cards, but that got too boring too quickly. That and three of the guys playing couldn't count worth a shit.

"Hey, worm-face!"

"Shut up, Joey! I can't get it out."

All of the soldiers were too busy bothering each other to notice a dark figure coming toward them in the distance. When the figure finally entered the camp, the soldiers scrambled to get their guns cocked and ready to fire, but upon noticing the dark figure was actually Jackie, they all calmed down. Even the teasing ceased.

One soldier by the name of Nathan was a very friendly guy. He saw Jackie the last time he was at the encampment, but he never got the chance to get to know him. Nathan took his opportunity to get acquainted.

"'Ey, Jackie," Nathan said, holding his left hand out to be shook by the black haired host, the skin missing from his palm. He was easily ignored. "I'm Nathan! It's good ta meet cha! Wha'cha doin' back here? Fin'ly died? That sucks." Nathan scratched his burnt and blackened skull with his left hand. The skin had fallen off long ago on the left side of his head and the ear was missing. The skin around his left eyes was mostly gone too, but just enough charred skin was left to hold the eye in place.

"Where's Anthony?"

Nathan made eye contact with Jackie and he became suddenly shy under his dark stare. "Oh, well uh…he's out hidin' in the trenches out 'n the field. Got hurt real bad."

Jackie began to make his way toward the exit but was stopped. Nathan had grabbed his trench coat.

Nathan had a big grin on his lean, dark face. "Wha's the hurry? Come play some cards or sum'fin."

Jackie turned around, shot Nathan in the eye, and walked out of the encampment.

"Ha ha! He taught you, dumbass!"

Nathan sat up from his place on the muddy, wet ground and laughed. "Oh well. I didn't need that eye anyway. It's my bad eye." Leaning his head forward, Nathan let the bullet and his right eye fall from the socket.

The other soldiers just rolled their eyes and went back to their boredom. There was no fun in teasing Nathan. He didn't care; he didn't even realize he was being teased. Nathan was an idiot.

* * *

As Jackie entered the battle field again, he closed his eyes and let out a large breath of air. There was a new, foul smell in the encampment that there wasn't before. He couldn't put a name to the smell other than it was like something had took a huge dump then died. He didn't let the thought escape that told him that a situation like that most likely already happened, and probably numerous times.

Heading toward the trenches, Jackie barely made out a figure in the fog. It wasn't moving, so he didn't rack it up to enemy status. Upon further and closer examination, Jackie found it to be the man-bird hybrid from before.

When Jackie was first sent to Hell, and after killing many German soldiers, he had seen through a pair of German binoculars a man on a "Y" shaped cross. Anthony had mentioned something about finding a man on a cross, so Jackie assumed it was him, but seeing its gnarled, bird-like face, Jackie decided otherwise.

Jackie, upon noticing a German soldier near the gruesome form, stood for just another moment to see the hybrid's large beak open, its body tense. From it spewed a high pitched screech and a large colony of insects shot up from the ground, ripping the soldier to shreds. In that same second, the insects rid themselves from the sky and the creature's body hung limp on the cross. Tiny ribbons of flesh floated down from the dark sky, and blood fell like rain.

"_Just think of it, Jackie," The_ Darkness' voice cooed. "_That could have been you."_

Their ear-splitting laughter rang in Jackie's ears as he forced himself to continue on. He had to find Anthony; he knew what to do, what to get, and how to get there. But the Darkness continued their rant in his ears, in his mind, and from the sky, "_What good could one do in their master's world?"_


End file.
